Shades of Grey
by lilmisssushi
Summary: .:His bloodline limit flares, a deadly combination of age old beauty and power... his eyes hypnotic with the promises of danger:. [ItaSaku]


**Shades of Grey** by lilmisssushi

A/N: Okay, I have no excuses for this oneshot fic except for the fact that I wanted to try something different for my first time writing this pairing. Also, I wrote it awhile ago for the lovely Animesenko, who is wholly responsible for my ever having picked myself off the ground long enough to write! Yah, blame her! _-points accusing finger in Animesenko's direction-_

It's pretty much up for interpretation, so I'd really appreciate any feedback or suggestions you might deign to give me lol XD.

(Disclaimer: Oh yeah, and I don't own Naruto, _-sniffles-_).

_Dedicated to Animesenko-chan for her birthday!_

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'Two colors are called complementary colors if grey is produced when those two colors are combined. Grey is its own complement. Consequently, grey remains grey when its colour spectrum is inverted, and therefore has no opposite, or alternately, **is** its own opposite.'

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1) The silver moonlight peeks through the cloudy night, its ethereal glow throwing the sharp planes of his face into high relief. The blade of his katana, poised at his side, reflects the pale form of his likeness, crumpled before him. Its edge glints scarlet with dripping blood- the same that irrevocably binds him and his ill-fated brother together.

2) Her mask offers her some sense of anonymity, and Haruno Sakura slips into her alias as an elitist kunoichi of Konoha with practiced ease and a heavy heart.

Her mission is to capture Uchiha Sasuke, and nothing will stop her.

3) The light rainfall lends the steady drumming of her heart, cover, and the wispy haze of mist obscures vision. She lies in wait, concealed within the shadows. Her target lies fifty feet away, blood matting his dark hair and staining his clothes, leaving him unrecognizable.

4) She watches as her former teammate battles it out with the last remaining member of his family, reckless abandon and wild-eyed desire to right past wrongs in the only way he knows how. Her eyes are trained on his every movement, so she sees the intense _loathing, _and -surprisingly- _longing_ that lingers in his usually emotionless eyes, reflected whenever the light allows it.

His aristocratic features twist in pain, and she wonders if she should feel something other than pity at the cruel hand fate had dealt him.

5) The fight slows down, and she is left in no doubt as to whom the victor is. Sasuke drops to his knees, a hand outstretched while the other desperately stenches the flow of blood from fatal wounds.

6) His low, coarse voice rents the night air like a scream, words too heart-wrenching to be anything but bare-faced truth.

_-You were the one I admired most in this world- _a gasp, breath hissing past ashen lips, smeared artfully crimson with freshly-spilt blood on a backdrop of purest snow.

_-Why…did you do it- _uneven panting ensues, and his voice is tainted with desperation and _something more_.

_-…how could you kill them… –_ he inhales sharply, ragged breath catching painfully in his chest, repressed sobs threatening to make their way to the surface.

He had waited his entire life for this defining moment, this final confrontation with the man who had haunted his past for so long.

_-And w-why…did you leave me alive?-_

7) Cold eyes assess Sasuke's obvious attempts to get up, leveling into cool disdain when he fails.

_- We will not meet again - _

8) He has never been one for words.

The avenger wavers between consciousness and the lure of blessed sleep, before finally embracing the dark depths of night.

9) The elder Uchiha walks away, not for the first time, dewy grass underfoot heralded by the swish of his cloak- leaving his brother shattered, in pieces, once again.

_- Forgive me. Someday, you will understand – _whispered words falling softly, unheeded, unto deaf ears.

They were never meant to be heard.

10) Sharingan see only what they want to, so Sakura finds it easy to slip across the distance, crystalline droplets of water clinging wetly to her skin. She procures her gloves –deadly weapons in their own right- and waits for the chance to strike.

11) In an unguarded moment, she has seen Uchiha Itachi at his weakest.

Beyond all reason, her traitorous heart clenches in her chest, and the sudden burning desire to _scream_ and _yell_ and _shake_ the goddamned genius overwhelms her. She owes it to Sasuke to find out what his cryptic words had meant.

12) Like the threads of their destiny, obliquely intertwined on a tapestry woven with loneliness, betrayal and suffering, it is her turn to make a move.

13) She doesn't get a chance to.

14) A tinkle of light bells, so out of place, sounds somewhere above her before she is forcefully slammed into a tree. Ghostly fingers trail in her hair, before her head is wrenched back to expose her neck,_ gripping her in an unearthly fear._

_- Speak, kunoichi –_ a silky voice grates along her nerves and someone blurs back into existence, too far away to reach.

_And yet, _something is still holding her back, though there is nothing there but mist.

15) A chakra-enhanced fist slams into her stomach, and she collapses to her knees, winded. Her mask cracks and splits right down the middle, falling in shards to her feet.

She feels _naked_ and _vulnerable _without its protection.

16)_ - Answer me, servant of the Leaf –_

She raises her face, a new awareness coursing through her veins as she meets her attacker's eyes.

17) His bloodline limit flares, a deadly combination of age-old beauty and power - hypnotic with the promises of danger.

His porcelain skin and melodic voice captures her before his eyes ever did.

18) For a moment, as their eyes caught and held, they are suspended, as if in a timeless dimension. A myriad of shades paint their world _red_ and _black._

19) -_ You are no match for me, kunoichi- _warm breath brushes past her ear, although she doesn't remember seeing him move.

Tension thickens the air, and she _feels_ her pulse pounding in her ears.

A hand slides down to grip her chin, before it is abruptly released, and Uchiha Itachi _turns to walk away._

20)_ - Wait- _her own voice surprises her, its cadences unfamiliar and its tone pleading.

He stops, _- what is it? -_ she struggles for her composure.

21) A beat, _– I am here to dispose of missing-nin, Uchiha Sasuke. -_ words unrelenting, determined to draw a response.

An almost imperceptible flinch, a sudden stiffening of shoulders, before they relax and his breath condenses into the frigid night air.

_- Do what you will- _he finally replies, but she can see he constrains himself for reasons unknown.

Green eyes narrow, she slowly rises to her feet. _– He will never forgive you if you walk away now- _unwittingly, she taps into the heart of the problem, and then she is slammed _back_ into that damned tree with a kunai pressed at her throat.

_- Don't pretend like you know me- _he hisses, eyes piercing into hers.

This time, it is no apparition that draws close to her face.

22) _-Do not test my patience any further- _avoice silky yet uncompromising cools the blood that is suddenly welling from a shallow cut at her neck. His fingertips graze the soft skin at its base, and she shudders with morbid anticipation, her heart beating frantically, as he _leans down to lick _the injury.

The metallic tang of her essence pleases him and he savours the bitter taste that accompanies her blood.

23) The air is suddenly heavy and she finds it hard to explain when she can't _move away_ from the presence that is slowly taking over, fatalistic attraction _blinding her resolve._

24) Swiftly and intuitively taking advantage of her indecision, the caress of his lips slide down her face, _down, down, _juxtaposing with the almost painful grip he has on her forearms.

He tastes like sweat and something forbidden.

She wrenches herself away, breathless.

25) He stands there, unmoving, until suddenly her wrists are _immobile_ for no apparent reason and he smashes his mouth against hers, frantically, _passionately, _so thrillingly _abrasive _that she _shoves _him away before pulling him closer, nearer, _she can hardly breathe._

26) Her skin, so translucent and lovely in the waning light, her eyes, too full of something akin to desire, her hands, trailing across his chest, reminiscent of something that flickers at the edge of his vision…

Her hands…pale and smooth, not unlike someone who had once called him aniki…fragments of pain, of remorse, long ago subdued, ripple across his awareness…

Her hands, _tingling with chakra wherever they pass._

27) For the first time in a long time, Uchiha Itachi is caught unawares.

28) Sluggishly, he moves away from the kunoichi, even as he feels the effects of her chakra pump through his veins. _– You have grown soft- _he chastises himself, wondering how this single kunoichi could get under his skin, whereas so many others had failed. His own brother, had failed.

29) -_An Uchiha's greatest weakness is the tendency to underestimate others- _she says, and green eyes flash with what looks like… _regret._

30)_ -Come- _she says, and charges.

-_End-_

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Thank you so much for reading this far! Oh, and a huge thank you goes out to the wonderful Cashew Nuts for all her support, and my beta Julie! You guys totally rule!

The format is borrowed off a nejisaku story of angelsrequiem over at livejournal, so if you like this story, then it's an absolute MUST to check out hers :-)

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